The Forgotten Zodiac

"I'm fine. What's done is done." Werr sighed. "I see. I only got out of it because my mother is insane. I told the soldiers that my mother's condition would degrade and she would go on a killing spree if they took me away. Which is probably true." He frowned a bit. "It's quite alright, you're not stupid. Unobservant, but not stupid. They're different." He said as they emerged from the woods, climbing up the hill that stood over the town. "Home again. You can smell the boredom from here..." He muttered, frowning again.

"Hmm." Welk said in reply to hearing Werr talk about his mother. "Well, at least you have a mom. I don't even remember either of my parents." His ears perked up when they came up on the town, and he grinned. "Look! You can see my house from here!" he said, pointing to an old, run down house on the far edge of the town. It was a good-sized house, but obviously ancient. It looked like it was about to fall over.

When Werr spoke, Welk frowned and sniffed the air. "I can't smell any boredom." he said confusedly. "What does boredom smell like, anyhow?"

"I'm not sure which I would prefer at this point," Werr shook his head. He looked over at where Welk was pointing, blinkiing in surprise. "That's your house?" He wanted to ask how on earth anyone could live there, but realized that saying such a thing would be terribly rude. "Oh, um, it's just a saying. I can't actually smell boredom, but I know it's there. It always is, so...yeah." He looked over at the other end of town, near the school. "Look, there's my house," He pointed. It was a quaint little home, although the windows always had the blinds pulled over the windows. Always. Mother hated bright lights.

"Yep, that's me and Cynyr's place." Welk said, practically jumping up and down in his spot. "Nobody ever comes and bothers us over there." He glanced over to where Werr pointed and grinned. "Nice house. Yours is a lot better than ours. We don't even have curtains over our windows. We use cardboard."

He frowned at Werr's explanation of the smell of boredom. "Phooey, I think it would be neat if boredom had a smell." he said. "You would be able to smell it all the time at our house. Cynyr's so boring." He charged off down the hill, his skinny legs strongly holding him on the steep slope. "Come on! I wanna see your house!" he shouted, racing off at a surprisingly fast speed.

Werr slid down after Welk, being a little more careful. He wasn't as agile as the half-cat, of course. Werr did run after him; if he didn't go in first, mother would be confused and would probably mistake Welk for him, as impossible as it sounded. Werr blinked in surprise as he realized how fast Welk was, though. "Hold up!" Werr called after Welk, not slowing down yet still falling behind. "Jeez, you're too fast!"

"Oops." Welk said, quickly slowing down. His tail swung around behind him, helping to balance out his body. "Sorry about that." he said once Werr caught back up. "I'm used to running with Cynyr. He's really fast, and you're…not." He laughed good-naturedly, smiling at Werr, showing that he was just kidding. "Can we hurry a bit, though? I really want to see your house!" He sped up to a trot, which Werr found much easier to keep up with than if he was running.

"No, I'm really not," Werr admitted freely, smiling a bit in return to Welk's laugh. "Alright, it's right up this road. Not that it's much to see..." He pulled ahead and led the way to his house, pulling open the door. The house really was small, and dimly light. There was a table and three chairs set around it, a hallway off to the side that led to the bedrooms and the basement, and the kitchen next to that.

"Mother? I'm home. I brought a guest." Werr said, approaching cautiously. He hadn't talked to her before now, so he had no idea what mood she was in.

"Oh? Werr-bear, there you are. I was just wondering when you'd come home." Werr's mother was an older woman with messy black curls and bright blue eyes. She wore a white dress with black embroidery, but no shoes. She sat in a wooden rocking chair facing the door, a smile plastered on her face like a mask.

Werr seemed to relax. "Well, here I am. Mother, this is Welk. Welk, this is Mrs. Heather Grehi."

"A pleasure to meet you!" She beamed happily.

"A pleasure to meet you as well, ma'am!" Welk said brightly, giving the woman a small bow. He preformed the move gracefully, his tail curling gently over his body, one arm held level with his torso. He nodded his head to her, then pulled back up, grinning. "I'll only be here for a short while. I'll have to get home to my brother before dark or he'll worry about me." Since Welk was standing near him, Werr could hear the Half-cat purring in the back of his throat.

"Such a kind boy." Heather smiled happily, dipping her head in return. "That's quite alright, stay for as long as you'd like. Are you making tea, Werr?"

"Yes, mother. Would you like some?" Werr smiled and moved into the kitchen.

"I would, but all of the tea is gone."

Werr stopped, frowning a bit. "Gone?" He turned to look at her in confusion. "What happened to it?"

"I fed it to the dog."

"We don't have a dog."

"We don't? We should get one." Heather just smiled away, perfectly content. Werr pinched the bridge of his nose, letting out a heavy sigh.

Welk's ears lifted slightly in confusion, and he tilted his head to the left. "Well, that's okay." he said. "I wasn't really thirsty anyways." He glanced around and spotted a window, then walked over to it and glanced out. "Oh, it's starting to rain." he went on conversationally. He put his ears back happily, purring. "I like it when it rains."

He stood at the window, watching as the rain picked up until it was coming down in droves.

Heather closed her eyes and rocked, listening to the sound of the rain. "I told you there was going to be a storm tonight, Werr-bear. You never believe me."

"I believe you now," Werr sighed, apparently looking for something in the kitchen. "Did you feed the pork to the non-existent dog, too?"

"Yes. That dog was very happy about it." Heather giggled. "Now hush, dear, I can't hear the rain when you're talking."

Werr gave up trying to find the pork and started looking for other things he could make for dinner. Good grief...

"Oh," Heather looked up after a moment of silence. "What was your name? Welk? Do you come from around town, or are you visiting?"

"Yes, I'm Welk." the Half-cat said, turning to look at her. "I live in town with my brother, Cynyr." He thought about it for a second, then said "Well, he's not my real brother, but I like to call him that anyways. He's the closest thing I have to family." He turned back to the window, lifted one of his pointed fingernails up to tap lightly on the glass. "We live on the edge of town, so a lot of the townsfolk don't always recognize us."

"Family is nice." Heather nodded, smiling. "I don't know what I'd do without my little Werr-bear. And not to worry, dear, I haven't been out of the house in ages. It wouldn't matter if you lived right next door, I wouldn't have a clue!" She laughed at herself, still smiling like absolutely nothing was wrong.

"Sorry about not having tea," Werr said, entering the living room again. "You can't walk home in the rain, though, you'll catch a cold or something..."

It was at that moment when someone knocked on the door. "I'll get it for you." Welk said, walking over. He took a hold of the doorknob and opened it, only to reveal a very wet and very angry Cynyr.

The black-haired Half-cat was soaking wet, his ears flattened angrily back against his head. His yellow eyes were narrowed, and he had his arms wrapped around himself. His tail was waterlogged, and it dragged the ground behind him.

Welk backed up a quick step at the sight of his friend. Cynyr glared at him, then said "What are you still doing here? What have I told you about getting home before it starts raining? Huh?" He snarled, and Welk's ears turned down against his head in fear. "I was just-" the blonde-haired Half-cat started, only to get cut off by his friend. "Goofing around like you usually do?" Cynyr said, flicking his soggy tail once behind him. "Get out here right this very second."

Welk looked scared. "I wasn't doing anything wrong!" he shouted. "Shut up!" Cynyr yelled in return.

Heather covered her ears at the yelling, looking scared. "S-stop it, stop yelling, you're hurting my ears!" She cried out, shaking her head.

"Stop it. Now." Werr said fiercely, moving forward. "You're frightening my mother. I ask that you carry on your noisy conversation outdoors, if at all. If you're going to be quiet, you can come in, Cynyr. We have guest beds, I see nothing wrong with you two spending the night."

"I wouldn't come in your house if my life depended on it!" Cynyr hissed. "Welk, get out here, right now." he ordered. Welk hesitantly stepped backwards, away from him. "No." he said, his ears back. Cynyr's eyes narrowed. "What did you just say?" he asked lowly, in a threatening tone.

"I said no." Welk said, carefully ducking behind Werr. "I want to stay here tonight, especially because it's raining. Our house always ends up being wet and cold during a storm, and I don't want to get wet." Cynyr's eyes flashed dangerously. "Welk, get out here." he said darkly. "No!" Welk said, holding onto the edge of Werr's outfit in fear.

"Do not make me come in there and drag you out of that house!" Cynyr snarled. "Because I'll get you out of there one way or another!" "No!" Welk answered, pressing his face into Werr's back. "Just go away, Cynyr! Leave me alone for once!"

"Make it stop, stop yelling, please, go away..." Heather curled up in her chair, trembling. Werr noted this and looked at Cynyr with a deadly serious look.

"Your friend wants to stay here, and I don't mind if he stays here. I really don't see what your problem is with this fact, but if you don't stop it with the yelling, you'll be grateful for the bandages on your face. It'll save you the trouble of putting them on." Although he was younger than the other boy, Werr wasn't talking about himself when he was making his threats. It was too difficult to explain, he didn't understand it himself, but if Cynyr didn't either shut up or go away, they'd have serious problems on their hands.

Cynyr glared ferociously at him, his gaze jumping from Werr to Welk. "I am not letting him stay here." he said darkly, a growl in his voice. "So you can either hand him over or-" "Shut up!" Welk shouted, closing his eyes in anger. Cynyr jumped, staring at him in shock. "Just go away!" the smaller Half-cat said. "You aren't my real brother, Cynyr, so stop acting like you ever will be!" There was several seconds of dead silence after Welk had spoken, and he slowly peeked around Werr to look at the black-haired teenager.

Cynyr looked like he'd been slapped.

All of the anger had vanished from his body, and he was breathing hard. For several seconds, he looked crushed. Then his hair bristled again, and he turned away from them, hiding his face from view. "Fine." he said softly. "You can stay here. You can do whatever you want. I don't care."

He walked off down the street in the rain, his soaked tail dragging the ground behind him.

"Well." Werr said bluntly, watching Cynyr go. He shut the door a moment later, though. "It's okay, mother, no one's shouting anymore." He said quietly, turning to her and kissing her on the forehead. Heather calmed down quicky, but was quiet after that.

"You can apologize before class tomorrow, I suppose." Werr said quietly. "For now, I'll make dinner, I guess."

Welk returned to his spot by the window, pulling up a chair and sitting down in it. He crossed his arms on the window sill and rested his head on his limbs, his ears pointed down against his head.

"Stupid Cynyr..." he muttered angrily. "What's his problem? It's almost like he has something against people like you and your mom, Werr. He always hated it when I talked to other kids at school, and he would tell me that I should never talk to people that weren't Half-cats like us. There's nothing wrong with talking to non-Half-cats. Cynyr's an idiot..."